The Return of the Black Lady
by TalexxAltava
Summary: Sequel to The Search for Professor Layton. What the title states, the Black Lady is back! What is she after this time, or does she have her heart set on kidnapping the professor? What is she hiding? And just who the heck is she?
1. Chapter 1

**Hey, guys! Guess who decided to update, finally! Hint coin: Her penname starts with Talexx & ends with Altava. Correct! It's me! So, here we go. Here's another puzzle, do you THINK I own Professor Layton? Why do we even need to say that?**

* * *

The Layton household had been much different, lately. After spending a month with Lady Dahlia, & seeing how soft she was on the inside, Flora hadn't the heart to leave her, so she stayed in St. Mystere. **(I'm really sorry, Flora fans, but after three games, I still have no idea who Flora Reinhold is. I don't want to make her OOC, so I didn't have much of a choice, really. They should make her talk more, & bring out her personality!)**

Another thing; the Tritons moved back to London, much to Luke's delight. He practically lived at the Professor's residence.

But the biggest change was probably the arrival of Alex, Layton's adoptive daughter.

Alex proved to be a bright young girl. Her talent in martial arts was certainly helpful on occasions, & she had the making of a fine young lady, though her temper could get the best of her. A lot.

One morning, the professor woke up early, as usual, dressed & ready for the day. He was making breakfast when a ringing sound caught his attention. It could only be the phone... But who would call so early in the morning?

Layton picked up the phone & held it next to his ear. "This is Hershel Layton."

"Ah, Hershel. It's Dean Delmona."

The professor smiled. "Good morning, Dean. Is there anything you need assistance with?"

"Yes, there is something I've wanted to discuss with you, actually. Can you be at my office, say, 12:30?"

"Certainly. Should I bring Luke?"

"Of course! I haven't seen him in forever! Oh, &, would you mind bringing that girl... What's her name... er, Amy? You've told me about her, but you never actually introduced us."

"Oh, you mean Alex? Yes, I don't believe you two have actually met. Well, I'll see you at 12:30 then, Dean."

"Thank you, Hershel. Please be sure to show up, this is really important." With that, he hung up.

"Morning, Professor!" said a voice behind Layton. He turned around to see Alex, awake & dressed. After he had taken her in, he bought her a new change of clothes. They weren't much different from her old attire, they were just clean & they fit better.

"Good morning, Alex. I trust you slept well?"

The girl nodded. Who was that on the phone?" she asked.

"Dean Delmona. He has something he wanted to talk to me about. After breakfast, would you mind fetching Luke?"

Alex held up three fingers & said nothing.

"... Is that a no...?"

She shook her head, & curled her fingers back up one at a time as she said, "Three... Two..." She waved her arm out as the front door opened.

"Morning, Professor, Alex," said Luke, cheerfully. The professor stared at Alex, looking somewhat amused.

"Luke, I got a call from Dean Delmona."

"The head of the university?"

Alex smirked. "Yeah, how many Dean Delmona's do you know?" Luke gave her a glare. "Sorry, I was only teasing..." the girl mumbled.

"We have to meet him at 12:30. Something he wants to discuss," Layton explained.

Luke nodded. "Did he say what?" he asked, curiously.

Layton thought for a moment, but he couldn't recall ever telling him what it was he wanted to talk about. "No, not that I remember."

Alex smiled as she poured herself a cup of milk. "Well, I'm pretty exited about this. It probably has something to do with archaeological research. Why else would he send for his best archaeology teacher?" she mused.

The professor chuckled. "I'm his _youngest_ archaeology teacher. No one ever said I was the _best_."

Taking this as his cue to jump in, Luke argued, "But you ARE the best! Your like a British Indiana Jones! How many people can say that they discovered the-"

"Don't go into details Luke, you made your point after the British Indiana Jones," Alex interrupted. It was too early to hear the professor's life story!

"Luke, you've had breakfast, right?"

Luke shook his head. "No time for breakfast today, Professor! I have a feeling that something's going to happen today, something big."

"... Before _breakfast_?"

"Breakfast will have to wait! I smell a case...are those _pancakes_?"

Layton smiled as he set two plates of pancakes in front of Luke & Alex. "Thanks, Professor," they said simultaneously.

* * *

**There you guys go! Chapter 2 should be coming shortly.**

**Black Lady: Will I be coming shortly?**

**Gah! What are- How did you- I LEFT YOU IN MY LOCKER!**

**Black Lady: ****_You forgot to lock it._**

**Argh! Get out!**

**Black Lady: You never answered-**

**I don't care! Leave me alone!**

**Alex: When's the action? This is lame.**

**Clive: Yeah. I almost fell asleep.**

**WHAT THE-?! CLIVE?! **

**Clive: So when is-**

**GET OUT OF MY FANFIC!**


	2. Chapter 2 The Meeting

**Sorry for the wait. I have an excuse. Alright, here we go! If I owned Professor Layton, nobody would play it because I'msuchaloserkillme.**

* * *

The trio stepped into Dean Delmona's office. The place was probably twice as big as your average office. The walls were decorated with newspaper clippings of Gressenheller's many, _many_ accomplishments (Quite a few of them had a certain archaeologist on them). The room was very organized, not a thing was out of place, from the pictures on the perfectly polished desk to the box of the dean's granddaughter's puzzles in the corner.

"Ah, Hershel! Please, sit down," the smiling Dean said from behind his desk. He gestured the three chairs in front of the desk. Layton sat on the one in the far left, Alex sat on the far right, & Luke in the middle.

"Oh, you must be Alex. Pleased to meet you, dear." Alex smiled as she stood up & leaned over to shake the dean's hand.

As their hands touched, a look of shock & confusion washed over the girl. Her eyes widened, & she resembled a man who had just realized he had been shot. Something about the feel of his hand, the firm grip, was so...familiar. But that couldn't be right, she had never met this man!

"Miss, is something the matter?" Alex quickly realized that the dean had already sat down, & her spacing out hadn't gone unnoticed.

"Oh, sorry, Dean," she apologized, sitting back down.

Delmona stared at her for a moment, & then said, "Wait fight here," leaving the room.

"What was that all about?" Luke asked, his brow raised.

"I... I don't... Hm."

Just then, the dean returned with a tray that held three tea cups. "Here you are," he said, handing one to each of them. They each took their cup & thanked him.

As the professor drank it, he fell in love instantly. I mean, of course being a gentleman & all, he loved most tea, but this particular cup was so...different. In a good was, that was. He lowered the cup from his mouth & saw, to his surprise, that there was nothing left in the cup. Did he really just down the whole thing in one gulp?

His thoughts were interrupted when he heard a strange sound coming from his right, one that resembled a whale shooting water out of the top of its head.

Alex had spit out the contents of her cup. "What was _that_?" she choked, wiping her mouth.

"... What, never had tea before?" Dean Delmona asked.

"... No."

Not feeling like scolding or excusing Alex for whatever reason, Layton let his attention drift & noticed that Luke's cup was empty as well, & he seemed to be struggling to keep this eyes open. How much sleep had he gotten the night before?

"So, Dean, wha..._yawn_... What is it you wanted to talk about?" Why was he so tired all of a..._yawn_...sudden?

Luke nodded, rubbing his eye. "Yeah..."

Their strange behavior hadn't gone unnoticed by Alex, who was wide awake. "Dean, can I ask you something?"

"I don't know, can you?"

"_May _I ask you something?"

"You just did."

"What did you put in the tea?"

The dean just drummed his fingers on the desk. "Cream, sugar, the like."

FWAP! The tip of Alex's pocket knife stuck in the desk, right where Delmona's hand just was.

"You know, Dean, when you're living on the streets, rule #2 is _know when you're being lied to_. So, I ask you again, _shat did you put in the tea_?"

This earned her a stare from everyone. "Alex, Deam Delnona-I-I mean..._yawn..."_

__The man smirked. "You've taught your orphan well, Layton." He stood up & pulled off his disguise, revealing a familiar black cloak.

"You!"

The Black Lady smiled darkly from under her hood. "And about your friends..." Alex stood up, knocking her chair over, as she said, "Don't worry. They'll wake up soon enough. If they wake up, that is." She turned & jumped out the window... Or more of, _through_ it.

Alex was ready to go after her, but stopped when she remembered that someone here needed her help first. She turned to see that the professor & Luke were, indeed, asleep.

She scrambled around the room, looking for a phone. "I-I've got to call the police," she told herself as she dashed around the room, but she shook her head as she corrected herself, "No, forget the police, I need a hospital!"

At last, she found a phone. "He-Hello?! I need an ambulance!"


	3. Chapter 3 The Black Lady is Back

**HeyI'mbacksorryIleftyouhangingIreallythoughttheAzr anLegacy**

**wouldcomeoutinAmericabeforeIupdatedIdon'townLayton &didyou**

**guysknowthatya'llarebeautiful&you'regoodpeoplebeca useyouread**

**fanficswrittenbyloserswho'sdreamsaretoputGeorgeLuc astoshame**

**withtheplot-twistiestplottwisttofacetheearthya'lla reamazingIlove**

**youI'msorryforwhatI'mabouttodo.**

* * *

Alex paced the waiting room anxiously, questions swirling around in her mind. At long last, a doctor approached her, & she let those questions out.

"Are they awake? Are they alright? Are they breathing? Can you help them? Are they going to die? Are they already dead? Don't let them die! Please!"

The doctor placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "They're fine. They'll wake up soon enough, I promise you."

Alex could have died from relief right there. She just knew for sure that they were going to die, that for the third time in her life, she would lose her family, & before you could say "orphan", it was back to the streets. _They're alive...they're okay... I won't lose my family...not this time._

Suddenly, a nurse came up to the two. "Doc! Professor Layton's awake."

"C-Can I see him?" the girl asked, hope in her eyes.

The nurse turned to her colleague, who nodded, & instructed, "Yes, just don't get him too exited, okay?"

She was led to the professor's room, which was right next to Luke's. Through the window, out of the corner of her eye, Alex could see him lay in a bland hospital bed, in a bland room, wearing a bland hospital gown, attached to one of those plasma thingies. His eyes closed tighter, as if he was having a nightmare. It pained her to see her best friend like that, but she couldn't help but wonder, _what the heck was in that tea?_ How could the Black Lady be so evil, drugging them with something that not only knocked them out, but gave them nightmares...

The nurse opened the door to the professor's room, let Alex in, & held up five fingers. "Five minutes," she said, urgently. "No more." She closed the door & left.

"Pr-Professor?" It felt weird to see the professor in a hospital dress, & even weirder to see him without his hat, & even _weirder _to see him with such a confused expression.

_That's it._ She couldn't stand it anymore. Her eyes searched the room until they found the brown & orange clothes folded neatly with the top hat sitting..._faithfully _on top. How on earth did it do that?

Nevertheless, she picked it up & returned it to it's rightful place, so it could sit faithfully on the professor's head, which was less creepy. "You don't look like yourself without it, okay?" she said as he looked at her confusedly.

_Oh God, no... The tea erased his memory... He doesn't know who I am, he doesn't know who __**he**__ is... I'm going back to the streets after all..._

"... I don't, do I?"

That was the most wonderful thing she had ever heard in her life.

"Where's Luke?"

Alex pointed to the wall to her right. "The next room."

Layton looked worried. "Is he alright? Is he conscious?" he asked.

"As far as I know, he's still out cold, but he can't be much worse than you."

That was when the nurse opened the door, tapping her watch. "Time."

"That wasn't five minutes!" Alex retorted.

"Yes it was! Now get out of here before I make you!"

Alex held her ground & tried to protest, but the woman grabbed arm & pulled her out of the room. "Hey! What the-?! Let go!" But the nurse flung her right out the door, slammed it, & locked it tight.

Angrily, the girl groaned loudly & kicked the door. She turned to storm out of the room, when something caught her eye: Luke was awake!

Alex checked to make sure that no one was looking, opened the door, let herself in.

"Alex! What happened? Where's the professor? What happened to Dean Delmona? Why are we at a-"

Before he could say anything else, Alex strode across the room & covered his mouth. "Shh! I'm not supposed to be in here!" She whispered.

After Luke nodded, Alex removed her hand from his mouth. "The professor's in the next room. There were drugs of some sort in that tea."

Luke cocked his head in confusion. "Why would Dean Delmona try to drug us?"

"Dean Delmona didn't try to drug us." She was quiet already, but she lowered it so much for what she was about to say, you would have to strain your ears to hear her if she was right next to you. "The Black Lady is back."

* * *

**So...heh heh...that thing I apologized for before I started that chapter...there's no easy way to say this, but... This is probably going the be the last chapter of The Return of the Black Lady for a while. I'm trying to avoid spoiling the Azran Legacy for myself &... Well, since it's coming out in the UK in, like, a week, it will be even harder to stay away from spoilers since it's coming out in an English language, so, I'm trying to stay of the Layton fandom on the internet until it comes out in America. God, I'm worse than Level-5, leaving a huge cliff hanger & just disappearing. Well, unless by some miracle, I update some time within the next five days, I'll see you guys in about...58 days. I'M SO SORRY YOU GUYS ARE GOOD PEOPLE YA'LL ARE THE REASON I EVEN BOTHER UPDATING & I'M TAKING YOU FOR GRANTED I'M A TERRIBLE PERSON! *Runs away & cries a waterfall* I'M WORSE THAN THAT LADY AT THE PARK WHO THOUGHT I WAS A BOY! I SWEAR SHE WAS INDIRECTLY SCOLDING ME FOR HAVING A PIXIE-CUT! **


End file.
